


How to Summon a Demon

by earthduck



Category: South Park
Genre: High School, Imp Tweek AU, It's senior year so they're all 18+ don't worry, M/M, Red & Craig are not related, Slow Burn, There's gonna be sex eventually just you fucking wait, but there's also gonna be fluff so JUSt you FUCKING wait
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-09 23:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16459499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthduck/pseuds/earthduck
Summary: Craig's at his lowest point in life. With his heart freshly broken after his ex-girlfriend decides to leave him for another woman, and his life seemingly stagnant, he's turned to the dark forces of the underworld, just for the hell of it.





	How to Summon a Demon

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my best friend, Chii-chii for helping me write and plan out this fic. Go follow her on tumblr! https://kopso.tumblr.com/

[October 4th, 00:48]

The sip of a hot mug of coffee flows through the silent basement. All outside noise, and light, muted away, windows covered up by cardboard and old crates. Lit candles, placed around in a circle, light up a series of chalky scrawl and markings on the cement floor. Green and orange. All he could find around the house; The room is drenched with the smell of earth and pumpkin spice.

Craig sits in front of the candlelit ring, resting a laptop on his lap. His face is lit a dark red as he scrolls slowly through a sketchy, poorly formatted website. It looks dumb all littered with flaming decals and shittily drawn demon stock images on either corner of the page. The background crimson, and the text an annoying yellow. But beyond the gaudy colors and schemes, the page is rich with instructions, and the title at the top of the page reads simply: _How To Summon A Demon._

He thinks this is dumb, that it's a waste of time, and that it couldn't possibly be real. But he can't muster up the will to care anymore. Both heartbroken and tired of a world where nothing seems to get better anymore, he has nothing better to do than to test the reality of his own beliefs-- though he can barely call them beliefs at this point. Do demons actually exist? Does hell? Does heaven? While he doesn't necessarily care, he knows that if something like this doesn't work, he'll just stop going to church all together. At least on Sundays he won't have to wake up early anymore.

A long phrase sits on the screen, which he's whispering under his breath several times. The site says that in order to summon a demon properly, one must chant this phrase, in a dark, open room. That the only light should be candles, and the only objects around the candles should be five individual offerings, all placed on a pentagram within a clean circle. Or, as clean as the human hand can draw. And each offering can be whatever the summoner may wish. Random, or with meaning, or a certain mood in mind. Of course nothing here speaks of a general tone. Craig had grabbed any random old thing he came across. An old lego castle that had been sitting on his desk for a few years now. A childhood blanket covered in stars and constellations. A stuffed animal hippo, that had fallen out of his closet the other day. And a freshly washed flannel button-up. 

Once he thinks he's gotten the chant memorized, Craig closes his laptop, and pushes it away as he stands up. He takes one last sip of his coffee, and puts it down as the final offering. The clink of the mug hitting the ground echos through the basement.

He lets himself stand in silence for a good few moments, looking over his unfinished ritual. During this time, a low, dull rumble is heard. It's storming out, but nothing out of the usual for the start of October. Cold rain and winds, in the middle of the night. Perfect for a demon summoning ritual read from an untrustworthy site. Craig thinks he'll have to run a virus check after going on that site, but he'll let himself deal with that later. Because he figures now is a good of a time as any to summon a demon.

He clears his throat, and then recites what he had practiced not moments ago, "Lord Satan, by your grace, grant me, I pray thee the power to conceive in my mind and to execute that which I desire to do, the end which I would attain by thy help, O Mighty Satan, the one True God who livest and reignest forever and ever. I entreat thee to inspire the demon to manifest before me that he may give me true and faithful answer, so that I may accomplish my desired end, provided that it is proper to his office. This I respectfully and humbly ask in Your Name, Lord Satan, may you deem me worthy, Father."

...The room sits quiet in Craig's expectant wait. And he stands there, waiting for upwards of thirty seconds before he's about to call the whole thing bullshit and go to bed. However, he feels there's a certain pressure in the room once he decides this. One like somebody else is in there with him. So he looks around, making sure none of his family happened to follow him into the basement and somehow stayed quiet this long. He sees nothing.

Before he has a chance to think anything else, the candle lights suddenly wisp away. This catches Craig's attention, so his eyes direct back to the now unlit pentagram. Then, a spark appears in the center, almost as though this light was stolen from the candles. And the spark lights a few more times. Craig isn't sure if he can believe his eyes. A fiery pit begins to swell in the center, spiraling and growing to the lengths of the pentagram's circle. What was a stagnant, nearly pitch black room seconds ago is now lit by hellfire, and filled with the screams of the damned. As Craig is slowly being hit with the realization that this is more than child's play, his eyes begin to widen and he takes a step back, tripping over his laptop and crushing it under his weight.

A figure gradually rises from the hellfire. This figure has wild hair, what appear to be horns, large wings that span out in a flash, a long tail, and goat legs to seal the look. Though once this figure settles and the fire sizzles away, leaving the chalk marks glowing a hellish red, Craig can't quite figure out what this man looks like. But from what he can see? It is most certainly a demon.

The hell spawn speaks, a reverb following his voice, "I heard your call, and so I am here. For what purpose have you summoned me, mortal?" His voice is scratchy, rather threatening, but above all, he sounds... inconvenienced.

"Uh..." Craig takes a second to think about what's happening. "...To do my bidding... or whatever."

The demon takes a step forward at Craig's words. Though Craig takes note of the fact that he doesn't seem to be leaving the pentagram's circle. So he pushes himself up, glancing down at his wrecked laptop for a moment before focusing in on the demon, feeling a little more safe with the idea that this hellish stranger probably can't get too close to him right now.

"You don't sound very sure of yourself." The demon says, surveying Craig, and then the rest of the room. And he would be right, Craig has no clue what's going on. Well, he actually knows exactly what's going on, but he sure didn't expect it. "Aren't you a little too young and stupid to be doing this kind of thing?"

Craig only grunts in confusion, not even seeming to be anywhere but his thoughts at the moment. Not getting an answer, the demon continues. "What is it that you ask of me? For your offerings, you'll have one great deed of your bidding fulfilled by my doing, no matter the magnitude." He almost sounds like he's reading from a script. Uninterested, and annoyed. Though past this, he leans towards Craig and offers, _"...So choose carefully."_

An unsure noise comes from Craig's mouth, now fully realizing the extent of this situation. He steps a little closer in an attempt to get a better look at this hell spawn. And he opens his mouth, flickering his eyes down to his laptop. In the moment, he figures if he can get any wish granted, that fixing his laptop is the most straightforward and obvious choice. But then he closes his mouth, and clears his mind to think of something that might be more worth his while.

"..." Craig clears his throat once he's thought of what he wants. "...There's this girl I used to date. Rebecca Tucker." He winces slightly. He's not used to using her full name. "I want... ...I want you to make her life a living hell."

Hearing this, the demon's tail flicks curiously. He stares Craig's figure down. Then lets out a slight huff of laughter, and says, "...You summoned me because you had your _heart broken?"_ Craig isn't sure if the demon just knows this already, somehow, or if it's just that obvious. Either way, he doesn't like the implication. Before he can speak his mind, though, the demon speaks again. "...I guess I've had shittier biddings?"

The demon seems to be weighing his own options here.

"You couldn't have just... set fire to her house, or kill her cat, or something? You really had to go out of your way to summon a demon for this?" He makes an odd, twitchy noise after he finishes. One that confuses Craig, but he's not ready to question a demon just yet. "Like, you understand just how... _wild_ of a solution this is, right?"

Craig nods. "I uh. I heard about... demons and shit in church. Summoning them, and stuff." He stands very still, and very stiff. Eyeing the demon up and down. "But I didn't think it would work, so... I told myself if it didn't, I wouldn't go to church anymore." He grunts slightly, voice staying completely monotone the entire time. "...Which in retrospect seems kind of fucking stupid. But... if you're here, you can do it. So I don't have to."

The demon narrows his eyes, but there's a flicker in his eyes. One that seems to be collecting some unseen information. ...And then scoffs, walking in a circle inside the pentagram. "Ugh, of course I was summoned because somebody was lazy." He twitches slightly, and then rubs his forehead as he walks back up towards Craig. He stares Craig directly in the eyes, and Craig stares right back, unmoved. "So this is truly what you want? For..." The demon rolls his eyes momentarily. "...For your ex's life to become a living hell?"

Craig's ears are on edge at how articulate and clear the demon seems to be speaking. It's as if he's telling him there's no turning back after he agrees. So he nods his head, very sure of himself in this moment that this is what he wants. "Yes."

After what seems like a child's game of a staring contest, the demon steps back. All remaining fire goes out. Through the darkness, the demon's voice can be heard one last time: _"...Then I am earth-bound to your bidding's completion."_

Everything is back to how it was-- dark, and quiet. Though this time, no light from the candles burn, and Craig's laptop doesn't stand a chance lighting up the room in any way either. Craig looks around, unsure if the demon left or not. So he mutters, 

"Hello?" There is no response. Only the flash of lightning through the slight cracks in which the windows were ameturely covered up, then a low rumble that follows soon after.

Craig sighs, and stumbles through the darkness, finding the light switch and flicking it on. No sign of the demon, just the scorched remains of the pentagram. All five of the offerings have vanished. While Craig didn't care for most of what he put down, he foolishly offered away something he's regretting only now. His security blanket he's had since he was six. He decides not to dwell on this for now though, and sighs, slowly wiping away the chalk and ash with his socks.

Once he's gotten most of the mess dealt with, and pushes the candles away into different corners of the room, he takes his socks off, picks up his laptop, and gives the room one last check. He can't have his parents finding out what he did down here. Not that they ever go down here anyways. Everything seems clean, so he makes his way out of the basement, and up to his room.

 

[October 4th, 01:25]

 

Craig opens his door a sliver, then boots it the rest of the way open. He tosses his socks into his laundry hamper, and flicks on the light. This causes him to take notice of a certain face he had talked to only a few minutes ago, sitting on top of his dresser. He slowly puts his laptop down, and closes his door, not taking his eyes off of him. Getting a better look at him, this demon isn't what he expected. Lanky with wild blonde hair, unbuttoned, tattered plaid, and the eyes of a wide-eyed doe, he isn't nearly as intimidating as he was under candlelight. The stupid goat legs don't really help that much, either. What Craig really expected was someone a little more... threatening.

"...I have chairs, you know." Craig gestures limply to his computer desk's chair. 

"You sure do." Says the demon. His tail sways gently across Craig's dresser, knocking things to and fro from on top.

As Craig watches the demon's tail knock everything over, he notices that his dresser drawers have been rifled through as well. "...It'd be great if you could use it. I already have to clean up the aftermath now from your panty raid." Though inconvenienced, Craig is unmoved as he walks towards his dresser to refold all this clothes. The demon complies, and hops off. His tail whips Craig's alarm clock, nearly breaking it in the process.

Sitting down on Craig's chair as requested, he remarks, "Your clothes suck." Then he begins wheeling himself around Craig's room, looking through everything else he has. Craig doesn't mind much, he doesn't have too many interesting things in his room anyways.

He does roll his eyes at what the demon says, though. He begins replacing all of his clothes, and setting everything that was knocked over straight again. "I could say the same about you."

"Yeah, well. Your clothes would look worse if you lived in hell." The demon asks, idly searching through Craig's backpack that's laying against his computer desk. "Oh yeah-- why do you have a million jackets and different boots in your closet, too?"

As Craig slowly and methodically folds and replaces all his clothing, he grunts, "You'd need them too if you lived in a place where it's only sunny like, ten days out of the year."

"What's it doing every other day of the year?" The demon snorts as he seems to get a fill of Craig's backpack, and doesn't even zip it back up. He moves on to look at Craig's computer, though in regards to everything else he seems rather respectful, only looking it over, not much bothering to turn it on and search through his private web life.

Craig puts away his last pair of socks, closes the drawer, and realigns his alarm clock on top. "Snowing." He momentarily turns to look at the demon. "Also, don't touch my computer."

The demon makes an odd, startled noise as he looks over his shoulder and holds his hands up, shaking his head. "I wasn't gonna," Craig doesn't seem to believe this, but lets it go anyways. And the demon continues looking around over his desk instead. "...but do you really need like. Five jackets and three pairs of boots for a little bit of snow?"

"I know this might come as a shock to you, considering you're wearing mangy burnt up clothes, but sometimes people like variety." Craig says, rather condescendingly. Then he's back to his monotone default, "Plus, most of the time even when it is sunny, it's way below freezing. Sometimes you need two jackets."

After messing around with enough stuff, the demon comes across Craig's DS, picking it up and deciding to play around with it for a few. He takes his time messing around with it before he responds. "That's dumb. Just get used to the cold, you've been living here all your life."

Craig can't tell how he feels about this demon somehow knowing he's lived here all his life. But then suddenly, he stops caring and moves on with the chores this new acquaintance has suddenly left him with. He makes his way over to his backpack, rearranging all of it's contents, and looking up at the presence at his desk as he zips it back up. Seeing the demon mess with his DS finally sparks a little irritation in Craig. "So are you just gonna... follow me around and fuck with all my stuff now?"

The demon fiddles with his DS a little more, then looks up from it to say, "Until your wish is granted, yeah. You signed up for this the second you summoned me." He closes the DS, finding it boring already. "Did you not read the fine print on the Necronomicon, or did you just find a tutorial online with that shitty eighty dollar laptop?" He gives off another odd, tweaked out noise, followed by a twitch. Which leaves Craig perplexed for about a second before he stops caring again.

"You think I read the Necronomicon. That's funny." Craig says, blank-faced. It's quite possible that Craig does not, in fact, find that funny. "I looked it up." He shrugs, and walks over to his pet guinea pig, Stripe, who has been silently wheeking noises of distress. Craig can only chalk it up to there being a demon in his room.

"Ugh! _Of course_ you did..." The demon shakes his head disapprovingly and puts the game back down where he found it. Then he spins the chair around to curiously watch Craig attend to his pet.

Taking Stripe out gently, Craig asks, "...So how long is it going to take for you to _'grant my wish?'_ Like... I don't really care, but do you have an estimate or something..." He holds Stripe close to his face and strokes him slowly. Though his face is unchanging, the demon can sense a strong bond between the two. So he gets up and slowly makes his way over as well.

Looking over his shoulder as Craig takes Stripe out of his cage, the demon answers, "It depends on how easy she is to fuck with, and how easy you make it for me." Just as Stripe begins to calm down, the demon's close proximity only causes him to begin whining once more. This prompts a shortly-lived glare from his owner.

"I wasn't aware that there'd be a way to make it hard for a demon to fuck somebody's life up." Craig remarks, making a slight but obvious step away from the hellish presence. That same hellish presence however can't seem to catch such a simple drift, and takes a step closer. 

"You'd be surprised how much bullshit can get in the way of some wishes." The demon scoffs, then continues, "Also, this is somebody's _life_ you're talking about, dude. If you think ruining somebody's life is a process that takes like, only a few days, you'd in the wrong fucking business, man."

Craig shakes his head and makes to speak, but Stripe starts to cower, so all of Craig's energy suddenly focuses on attempts to console him again. At the same time, Craig's new acquaintance thinks it's a good idea to reach out and try and pet him. To which Craig snaps, _"Don't fucking touch him."_ He looks the demon dead in the eye, and almost seems ready to fight him if he needs to.

The demon's face changes from boredom to mild interest, raising an eyebrow. He scans Craig, and Craig doesn't like that it feels like this demon is reading his mind, or something.

"...What's so important about this hamster?" He asks. Craig can't tell if he said that to be an asshole, or if he just doesn't know what animals are, like. At all. "If you don't let me pet it, it's just gonna keep freaking out. That's how animals always work."

"He's a _guinea pig."_ Craig retorts. "And you're fucking stupid if you think just petting an animal makes it trust you." Craig stares him down, seemingly unmoved by the demon's presence at all. Which seems to be confusing the hell spawn, but it doesn't stop the demon from trying to get a closer look again. So Craig snaps again, "Get away from him. You're freaking him out."

The demon scoffs, but obliges and moves away. "Did your ex do something to your hamster, or something?" He crosses his arms, watching Craig finish comforting his pet from across the room. Soon after, Craig's put him back in his cage gently.

Craig rolls his eyes at the hamster remark, but pushes away any inkling to get mad, as he's prone to do. "No. Nobody touches Stripe unless I let them." He gets to his feet, giving the demon one last look over. "Not even snarky-ass demons."

This only makes the demon chuckle. "So why are you so broken up about her, then? What happened?" His tail curls in curiosity, a gesture Craig finds slightly amusing in a way, but it's overpowered by how annoying he thinks the question he just got asked was.

"Like hell I'm telling you. I don't know you." Craig turns away from the demon, as if he barely cares about his presence here at all.

"You kind of literally summoned me to deal with her, dude. I should _probably_ have some insight on why I'm doing it. Especially if you want it done sooner rather than later." The demon speaks as though Craig isn't grasping something here. Which Craig doesn't think there's anything to grasp. But the demon knows there is.

And since he can't quite argue with a force he knows almost nothing about, Craig just sighs and flops down onto his bed. "I'll tell you later. I'm tired." His voice screams of _'I'm not actually going to tell you later.'_ The demon notices this and snorts, walking up to the bed and looking down towards Craig.

"You really decided to summon a demon right before your bed time? Jesus, what are you, some twelve year old who's gotten his heart broken by a two-week-long internet sweetheart or something?" He pokes fun at Craig, since it's the only way he's been able to get Craig to give him more than nothing. At the same time, though, the demon seems to want to pull some reaction other than apathy from this boring mortal just for the hell of it.

"It's almost two AM and I have school in six hours." Craig groans, and rolls over so he doesn't have to look at the looming presence of a demon above him. "Let me sleep."

The demon goes silent for a moment, past a couple of twitchy noises, and takes a few steps back. Almost as if he's following a command, he does let Craig sleep. Even being so courteous as to walk over to the light switch and flick it off for him. "...If you want to make sure your bidding is granted, get rid of that cross down the hall when you can. It's gonna fuck stuff up for the both of us in the long run the longer it's there." Craig is silent, but a sense acknowledgement radiates from his lack of words.

The demon walks up again, but not too close this time, and watches over Craig as he lays in bed. Craig can feel his presence, but remains unbothered. Observing Craig in his slumber for a few minutes, the hell spawn then decides to leave him be. Whisking himself away in a small flash of fire out of Craig's room and off to do his own thing, while his summoner slowly drifts to sleep.


End file.
